Skip to content
- Home
- /
- Cross-Chain Bridges Reviews
- /
- Across Protocol Review: Is...
Across Protocol Review: Is it Legit or Scam?
Swen Keller
- URL: https://across.to
- Year Founded: 2022
- Native Token: ACX Token
- Supported Assets: ETH, USDC, WETH, USDC, DAI, UMA, ACX, BAL, and WBTC
- Supported Networks: Arbitrium One, Ethereum Mainnet, Base, Optimism, Polygon, ZkSync Era
- Fees: 0.06% to 0.12% liquidity provider fees
Across Protocol Review: Our Take
Drawing from our in-depth analysis of this cross-chain bridge solution we noticed that Across Protocol stands out for its cost-efficient design and low transaction fees that save between 20 to 80% in costs on cross-chain transfers.
What is Across Protocol and How Does it Work?
Across Protocol is a cross-chain bridge for Layer-2s and rollups secured via UMA’s Optimistic Oracle.
The cross-chain bridge seeks to achieve capital efficiency with one pool, a no-slippage fee model, and a competitive relayer landscape.
Across Protocol’s single liquidity pool and their interest rate fee model enables the cross-chain bridge to offer lower costs for users and increased yields for liquidity providers.
Concerning its working, Across uses UMA’s optimistic oracle to verify that transactions on all blockchains are accurate.
If there are incorrect transactions they will be disputed and solved by UMA token holders as it requires just one honest actor to identify fraudulent transactions.
Also, the protocol utilizes third-party relayers that use their funds to bridge tokens. The relayers can choose to move assets quicker than the origin or destination chain finality times, which results in fast fills.
The outcome of this is that bonded relayers can take risks and compete with one another on speed to satisfy users’ deposit requests.
That said because capital efficiency is the most vital aspect of a bridge, the protocol has a system to ensure this.
Their single-sided liquidity pools design along with the interest rate fee model enables lower costs of transactions for users and high yields for liquidity pool providers.
The Across Protocol stores the majority of its assets on the mainnet for security and it uses bots to rebalance between destinations via the canonical bridge.
Also, the Across Protocol’s interest rate fee model is powered by the overall utilization of tokens in its one liquidity pool which ensures more consistent pricing.
Pros
- Singular liquidity pool
- Low-cost cross-chain transfers
- Low gas fees
Cons
- Low selection of bridgeable tokens
Unique Features
Across Protocol Rewards
At the launch of the ACX token, 100MM ACX was set aside for the Protocol Rewards Referral program.
Across Protocol users can earn rewards in 2 ways on the platform: via the Across Referral Program rewards or the Reward Locking Program.
The Across Referral Program Rewards
Users who refer others to use the Across Bridge via the Across referral link earn ACX.
Here is how it works, when you share your custom referral link with others and they decide to bridge Ethereum tokens and other tokens using your link, both you and your referral will earn ACX rewards.
Across Protocol uses a tiered rewards system for the referral program.
The more people you refer and the volume you accumulate, the higher your tier and the greater your rewards.
During the allocation of ACX, 25MM ACX from the 100MM ACX set aside for rewards was allocated to the referral program. The duration of the referral program is dependent on the ACX price and the volume of referral transactions.
Reward Locking
This is an advanced version of traditional liquidity mining.
It discourages farm and sumo activities and rewards committed contributors.
LPs on Across Protocol have a customized rate at which they earn rewards, this is largely dependent on their loyalty.
The longer a Liquidity Provider leaves accumulated rewards unclaimed, the faster they earn additional rewards.
That said, 75MM ACX is allocated to the Reward-locking program to incentivize LPs
Cryptocurrencies Available Across Protocol
Across Bridge currently supports 9 cryptocurrencies.
Users can currently bridge USDC, Ethereum, and 7 other cryptocurrencies. Other supported cryptocurrencies include Wrapped Ether (WETH), Tether USD (USDT), Dai (DAI), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Balancer (BAL), UMA (UMA), and Across Protocol (ACX).
Networks Available on the Across Protocol
Currently, Across Protocol supports 6 blockchain networks.
Supported networks include Ethereum Mainnet, Arbitrum One, Polygon Network, Base, Optimism, and ZkSync Era.
Across Protocol Fees
Across Protocol has a simple fee structure where Relayers and LPs earn fees based on the risks associated with any bridging event while users pay these fees.
Relayer Fees
Whenever a user sends a deposit request to bridge assets to a destination chain they can choose a relayer fee that is between 0% to 50% of the bridged amount.
This part of the bridge is transferred to the relayer and the user can choose any fee they want but if it is too low they risk not having the transaction picked by a relayer.
Liquidity Fees
The Across Protocol assumes that all bridge transactions use part of the liquidity provider capital to refund the relayer or slow-fill deposits.
Liquidity fees are on average between 0.06% to 0.12% of the transaction amount for transferring assets. So on a transfer of 1 ETH, you would need to pay a liquidity provider fee of 0.0006 to 0.0012 ETH.
Is Across Protocol Safe?
From our direct engagement with Across Protocol, we’ve ascertained that it is a secure and reliable bridge.
Across builds on UMA’s Optimistic Oracle. The UMA’s Optimistic Oracle is dependent on a one-step escalation game which allows anyone to propose the answer to certain questions, if the answer provided is not disputed, within a short dispute window, the answer becomes verified.
This means that it only takes one honest actor to dispute and stop invalid transfers. As long as users of the UMA’s Optimistic Oracle believe that false answers will be disputed and punished, only truthful answers will be provided.
While this looks like a basic security model, in practice, it has performed well and secured assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Staking Rewards/ Liquidity Provider Yields
Relayers and LPs earn on transaction fees, with Relayers receiving anywhere from 0% to 50% of the bridged amount in fees and LPs receiving up to 0.12%.
Across Protocol Token (ACX)
The Across Protocol native token is ACX and it governs the decisions that affect the function of the protocol and the decisions that control the DAO’s treasury.
It is also used to incentivize liquidity providers.
The governance token, ACX, is an ERC-20 token launched on 28th November 2022. At the time of writing, Across Protocol price is at $0.135672.
At the launch of the token, governance in the ecosystem was turned on. As stated, token holders can take part in the governance of the protocol, vote on proposals, and decide on important matters that can shape the future of the ecosystem.
All proposals brought before the governance must pass through 6 stages: ideation, discussion, proposal, feedback, voting, and execution.
Currently, ACX token holders take part in governance using the platforms Forum and Snapshot.
There are plans underway to build a governance tool with UMA and Snapshot.
Aside from being a governance token, ACX is also used to incentivize and reward liquidity providers and Across Protocol Affiliates.
ACX has a maximum supply of 1,000,000,000.00 tokens.
Below is a breakdown of the allocation of ACX tokens:
59.44% is allocated to Across DAO Treasury
11.11% is allocated to Protocol Rewards
16.67% is allocated to Strategic Partnerships
12.78% is allocated to Airdrop. During the Airdrop of the token in November 2022,115MM ACX was airdropped. 20MM ACX went to the community, 15MM to early Bridge users, 70MM ACX to liquidity providers, 10MM ACX to the Bridge Traveler Program
250 MM ACX was also allocated to strategic partnership and Fund-Raise.
100MM ACX for Protocol Rewards
And 535MM ACX Across the DAO Treasury Reserve. These unallocated tokens will remain in the Across DAO Treasury.
Out of the 250 MM ACX that was allocated to Strategic Partnership and Fund Raise, 150 MM ACX was swapped with the risk treasury for 2MM UMA.
This was aimed at giving the Across community ownership and governance in UMA to foster the security of the Across Bridge. This swap was also aimed at keeping Risk Labs aligned with the Across Protocol by being a token-holding entity in the protocol.
The remaining 100 MM ACX was transferred to the Risk Labs Treasury to raise funds and secure loans for key DeFi players in the Decentralized Finance industry. This is aimed at accelerating the growth of the Across Protocol.
That said, ACX is a relatively new token, so it is best you seek expert investment advice if you wish to invest in the token for monetary gain.
Things We Do Not Like about Across Protocol
Through our extensive experimentation with this bridge, the Across Protocol, we found that it supports a limited selection of bridgeable tokens and networks in comparison to other bridges.
This limits its use case with certain users who may want to explore other assets and networks.
Final Thoughts
The Across Protocol seeks to achieve capital efficiency with a single liquidity pool, a competitive relayer landscape, a no-slippage fee model, and a competitive relay landscape. It stands out for its capital efficiency system that ensures liquidity. However, it falls through because of its limited selection of bridgeable tokens.
FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
The best decentralized exchange cross-chain bridge depends on what networks you intend to bridge and your assets. However, the Accross Protocol is right there at the top as well as Synapse.
Yes, Across Protocol is an Optimistic Bridge.
The Binance Bridge 2.0 is the best option for bridging BNB and ETH.
A DeFi Bridge is a solution that enables users to transfer assets and off-chain data across different blockchains that would be otherwise incompatible.
We always try to provide the most accurate information available, and make sure our team follow through.
If you want to know more about our Crypto Exchanges Review Methodology follow the link below
Skrumble.com provides all its content for informational purposes only, and this should not be taken as financial advice to buy, trade, or sell any investment instruments or products, including but not limited to cryptocurrencies, or use any specific exchange. Please do not use this website as investment advice, financial advice, or legal advice, and each individual’s needs may vary from that of the author. Investing in financial instruments, including cryptocurrencies, carries a high risk and is not suitable for all investors. It is possible to lose the entire initial investment, so do not invest what you cannot afford to lose. We strongly advise conducting your own research before making any investment decisions. This post includes affiliate links with our partners who may compensate us.
To view our privacy policy read here.
